February has been a rare month of gains for crypto markets. It is only the third month markets have ended higher since the bear market began. Total market capitalization has been up trending during February following losses the previous month. Starting out at $113 billion crypto markets climbed 14% and ended the month at $129 billion. They reached a two month high of $144 billion on the 24th but this could not be sustained.
Total market cap, February 2019
Bitcoin’s chart for February mirrors that for total markets. BTC made 12.8% starting the month at $3,460 and ending a touch over $3,900. Bitcoin hit resistance at $4,200 which prevented any further breakouts. $3,650 and $3,850 have been key support zones for most of the month. Bitcoin registered the first green monthly candle since July.
February Crypto Winners
Ethereum had a great February surging 28% from $107 to $137 by the end of it. ETH reached a peak of $165 during the month with marks a recovery of almost 100% from its 2018 low in mid-December. The Constantinople hard fork which went through a couple of days ago did not impact prices at all.
EOS was on fire in February, powering from $2.32 to $3.55 in a 53 percent pump. It hit a high of $4.40 during the monthly peak but has since pulled back. The move was enough for EOS to take and hold fourth place by market cap.
Litecoin had an equally impressive month surging 46% from $31.70 to $46.40. LTC broke through the psychological $50 barrier briefly but could not hold it. Chances are that it will be back over that level again soon.
Bitcoin Cash made a 17% move during February as it climbed from $114 to $133 following the market wide rally. Binance Coin has been a beast for the past month pumping 67% from $6.26 to $10.47 almost recovering in entirety from the bear market.
Cardano made a rare move upwards during the month but only registering 13% taking ADA to $0.0435. Likewise with Monero which made 14% during February to take it close to $50 by month end. Iota recorded a gain of 12.5% during the month which took its price to $0.288.
Dash did much better with a surge of 24% from $68 to $85 during February. Maker was by far the top performer for the month with an epic surge of over 80% from $370 to $670 propelling it up the market cap charts to 16th spot. NEO also did well with a run of 31% taking it from $6.90 to over $9 by month end. Ethereum Classic was not so fortunate and only managed to gain 9% over the month ending it at $4.32.
February Crypto Losers
We are considering XRP to one of the losers in February as it ended the month at the same price it started, around $0.312. Even a long awaited Coinbase listing was not enough to boost the Ripple token and it remained behind Ethereum in third for most of the month.
Stellar is also in the losers group as it only scrambled a couple of percent starting and ending the month around $0.083. XLM has slide down the market cap chart and is in danger of dropping out of the top ten if losses continue.
One of January’s top altcoins, Tron, has not been able to replicate that performance in February as it slid 4.8% across the month ending it at $0.0238. Bitcoin SV was another under-performer in February with a gain of just 5% ending the month at $67. NEM was also weak in February as the Foundation downsized dramatically resulting in small gains of only 6%. Rounding out the top twenty is Zcash which also only made 6% to scrape it over $50 by the end of the month.
February has generally been a bumper month for most crypto assets with the majors gaining solid double digits. The long term picture however still shows crypto markets on the floor in the depths of winter. In summary February’s crypto winners were Maker, Binance Coin, EOS and Litecoin with Tron, XRP and Stellar the losers.
All figures from Coinmarketcap.com
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